Adobe has announced beta web versions of Photoshop and Illustrator that offer collaboration tools but limited capabilities.
During last week’s Adobe MAX 2021, Adobe announced that it is releasing limited beta web versions of Photoshop and Illustrator, allowing creatives to access their work directly from the cloud, without the need to download either the files or the app.
The web versions of the two applications will only allow for some basic capabilities, though, as it doesn’t offer all of the editing features present in the full app.
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“We’re not bringing all the features on day one, but we really want to unlock all those basic edits that are just best done now in the browser with whoever you’re working with,” Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer, explains.
Belsky describes the web version of Photoshop as offering a “light level of editing” that works with “real PSD” files. Users can navigate layers, leave annotations and comments, and make basic edits such as erasing spot healing with a brush and selection lasso.
However, the apps will make it easier to collaborate across Adobe Creative Cloud services with teams and clients, providing access to making those basic changes to anyone who receives the authorization to edit work.
In addition, Adobe is also adding a review panel to Photoshop on the web to enable users to add comments. A new hub on the website is also enabling teams to organize assets and create collaborative mood boards.
People will be able to share files for review and work together on adjustments, improving from the previous ability only to make annotations and comments on the document. The desktop version of Photoshop is already available to Creative Cloud subscribers as a beta, while Illustrator for web – launching as an invite-only beta – has already made signups available for interested users.
The announcement for the desktop versions of the two programs came as part of a broader features release from Adobe this week at the Adobe MAX 2021, aimed at enhancing collaboration across Creative Cloud services.
The company is also releasing a few new features on Photoshop, improving the object selection tool and adding new neural and color transfer and harmonization filters, and improving the ability to create natural blurred backgrounds with the Depth Blur filter.
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